1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to digital media and, more particularly, to accessing digital media across networks.
2. Description of the Related Art
The ability of computers to be able to share information is of utmost importance in the information age. Networks are the mechanism by which computers are able to communicate with one another. Generally, devices that provide resources are called servers and devices that utilize those resources are called clients. Depending upon the type of network, a device might be dedicated to one type of task or might act as both a client and a server, depending upon whether it is giving or requesting resources.
Increasingly, the types of resources that people want to share are entertainment-related. Specifically, music, movies, pictures, and print are all types of entertainment-related media that someone might want to access from across a network. For example, although a music library may reside on a family computer in the den, the media owner may want to listen to the music in the living room.
However, sharing media data can be a network-intensive process. People have devoted significant resources to both reducing the load on networks and increasing the capability of networks to handle large data transfers. Due to advances in compression technology and network bandwidth, the throughput of information through networks has increased dramatically over the years.
Although the described technologies work well in many applications, there are continuing efforts to further improve the ability to transfer digital media.